DoomMunky

Thanks... Put in a good word for yourself, too.

Hey, word, I was wondering if I could upload some mods I found over at tripod.s2mods.com. They're pretty cool. There's also a working version of AddMod there (the one on s2hq is broken). Or should I forget it, because of permissions and crap? Or should you just point over there in your files section? The great mod is "Difficulty Grade Changes", which ups the AI intelligence and bad-assness to its highest in every difficulty setting. It makes the game really fun if you don't play in impossible, and it also adds save support to every difficulty. Go! Seek! Get! EDIT: I also just tracked down an old copy of the PKMod that I downloaded from the s2hq site before it was moved, and have it on my computer now. I noticed there's not one on the files section of this site, and that the one on the s2hq site is broken. So there! I'll upload it, if you tell me how...

I've heard the complaint about the marketing a lot. Was it really that bad? I remember gaming mag ads that just had the running soldier from the box art, and that was about it. I was under the impression that S^2 was an action-y type game, perhaps an FPS (and didn't really care, actually, because I knew nothing about it...). So yeah, awareness (on my part) was pretty low, it sounds like. But it is a pretty hard sell to an American MTV audience. If it's not freakin' Tony Hawk Underground or Madden 20000054 or Unreal Champion of the Ultimate Tournament, US gamers don't know or care (like me!). I mean, turn-based? Sounds boring. WWII? Sick of THAT, already. What else? Fully destructible 3D environments rendered beautifully in a unique engine with a quirky sense of humor and a lot of replayablility? Hmmm, now you're talking.... They shoulda asked me to do the marketing.

Yeah, what the f? If I had S3 that would be all I DID! You should count yourself LUCKY!! Nah, just kidding. Aralez, I don't have S^3 yet, but I'm going to order it from GoGamer within the week (I got enough tips tonight at work to afford it!). I'm thinking about learning how to mod S^2 and S^3. There is such great potential that I see untapped. Especially the AI in S^2. When you shoot a dude from very far away and he doesn't even MOVE because you're too close to 'activate' him, that sucks. I'm thinking about working up a way to make him 'activate' when aroused by gunfire or getting hit or death of comrade nearby, or whatever. This really bugs me, and I'm thinking about fixing it... I'm really interested in seeing the AI in S^3 and how it differs from the first game. Other than that, no, I'm not a modder. In fact, this would be my first attempt at modding ANY game, and I understand that this is a VERY hard game to mod... Why? Are you looking for testers? You want to work something up with someone?

Dammit. I want that to work... Any general strategies, y'all?

Or has everybody pretty much moved on? I'm replaying it about every four months, and am deep in the middle of a great axis campaign right now, but it seems that everybody else has either moved on or has little to say... Is there a more active board for the game? Maybe I'll go check the Nival forums...

Yeah! Walls suck! As for grenades sucking, there's a great Low Weight Grenade mod (in the modding forum, I think) that makes them almost TOO powerful. When you can toss them halfway across the map, they're very hard to not use! It is more 'realistic' I think, but it upsets the already messed up balance of this game. There's also a Double Rifle Range mod out there that might make this better...maybe I'll check that out next. What about my idea of trying to draw them out? Do enemies do stuff like that? In my experience they tend to wait for me to come to them....

Yeah, gotcha. Thanks. I imagine that, with the poor sales figures for SS in the US it will be quite hard to get a US publisher/distributor. I also imagine this is what is holding up the US release of SS:S. Maybe if I imagine that it will be released very shortly, it will be...

Masticated!

So, it's my understanding from the above link that this game might see a May release in Russia, with a potential English conversion to follow? Is this right?

boring

Hey there, guys. I'm pretty good at this game, I guess, and really enjoy it, but other than the one FAQ over at GameFAQs, I can't find any other information on general strategies for use in the game... Any tips you'd like to share? I really like what the FAQ author says about dumping SMGs in favor of rifles, and he describes the use of cover in a useful way, as well. Lately I've been making full use of my scout as a spotter for my snipers, as intended, and it works really well, especially now that my snipers have pretty good shooting skills and can actually hit things with a fair degree of regularity. One thing I've never been able to figure out: When an enemy is right around the corner from you, but you can't see him, how do you manuver into position to be able to see and kill him, without just walking around the corner and having him interrupt and fill you full of bullets? What do you all do when faced with this situation? My scouts are good at hiding, but not THAT good, and I can't figure out how to "throw grenades around corners" like the manual says. Any thoughts? Can you draw him out? Make him come around the corner to YOU?

Okay, I fixed it... I removed the offending mod with AddMod, and everything is good again. I even got killed just now... Grrrr!! Is there any mod or way to use the settings so that I can get my guys "killed" in Impossible, but not have them perma-die? I like paying for my mistakes with their death in the mission, but being able to carry them out and revive them at the end... Not very realistic, I know, but this much realism means I just end up reloading a lot... I spend so much time with them, shepherding them through life and war, building their skills, and helping them grow as humans and as individuals (a very holistic approach, mine) that their instant and irrevokable death hurts me personally. Any way to change this, or should I just get more familiar with the quicksave key? Oh, I also have the skill progress tweak in my config file, and man, is it nice!

Holy crap, that sounds pretty incredible... It seems to be taking all the things I wish SS had in it and pumping them up a freakin' ton, almost to the detriment of the original game... Guess we'll have to wait and see, of course. I'm definitely excited for it, though!

Like the title suggests, this is a post complaining about the difficulty of the game with a few mods on. I'm playing with these mods: Grenade range increased Item resized for more realism Fast animation More uniforms Medical and engineering items are easier to use Fast skill progress Difficulty grade changes Those last two are the ones that are causing the problems, I think... I got them from http://s2mods.tripod.com There are some mods there, including a working version of AddMod. Here's what they do. Fast Skill progress ups the level of the basic enemies as follows (this is straight outta the readme): This mod increases the skill progress and attributes of enemies. Next, it let player characters start with XP 0 which provides one additional ability point when leveling to character level 1. (values in parentheses are Silent Storm v1.2 original values) 1. Base Enemy: 6 6 6 (3 5 5) 2. WeakEnemy: 3 3 3 (2 2 2) 3. Growth Speed: VP: 10 (20) Interrupt: 10 (20) AP: 80 (100) Melee: 10 (20) Shooting: 10 (20) Throwing: 10 (20) Burst: 20 (60) Snipe: 10 (20) Stealth: 10 (20) Spot: 10 (20) Medicine: 8 (10) Engineering: 5 (10) Changed table: RPGBaseValues Now, looking at it anew, I'm thinking that it raises the levels of the basic enemies, but cripples their abilities! And playing the game through (axis missions) I'm finding that the enemies basically stand around and let me shoot them as long as I'm about 10 hexes away from them...lame! The other mod, Difficulty Grade Changes, works like this: This mod changes the difficulty grade settings. It mainly increase the challenge for all difficulty grades and let player characters be completely bandaged or healed after each mission. Further, it allows saving the game during combat at any difficulty grade. Check the changed points for detailed information. The three following values after each point represent the Normal, Hard, and Impossible difficulty grades in listed order: (values in parentheses are Silent Storm v1.2 original values) AIAPCoeff: 1 1 1 (0.4 0.7 1) AIVPCoeff: 1 1 1 (0.5 0.75 1) DeathCoeff: 1 0.5 0.1 (1.2 0.7 0.1) AIUnitsLevel: 0 2 4 (-1 0 1) NeedCarryOutUnconscious: x x x (- x x) CanSave: always always always (always realtime realtime) HealOnLeaveZone: x x x (x x -) HealOnLeaveZoneCoeff: 1.5 1.5 1.5 (1.5 0.5 0) BandageOnLeaveZoneCoeff: 100 100 100 (100 100 1) ShowAllClueIcons: - - - (x x -) ShowAllScenarioGoals: - - - (x x -) UseDefaultStringForUnknownGoals: - - - (- x -) MedicalCoeff: 1 0.5 0.1 (1 0.5 0.2) HideProbability: 25 50 75 (15 30 75) AssassinProbability: 25 50 75 (5 10 25) EnemyDamageMult: 1 1 1 (0.66 1 1) OurDamageMult: 1 1 1 (1.33 1 1) HeadshotShouldKill: x x x (- - -) AICheckCorpses: x x x (- x x) Changed table: DifficultyConstants Now that seems pretty reasonable, upping the intelligence and level of the enemies on all difficulty levels, but allowing for saving anywhere and full healing upon leaving a map. So, I guess my question is, how do I remove "Difficulty Grade Changes" from my current save game? Thanks, y'all, and sorry for the long-ass post.

Hey, thanks for the welcome! I just fired them off an e-mail, so we should be finding out something very soon...

Okay, what the hell? I've been waiting for this game for months here in the US, and it just ain't coming, and there's absolutely no info on it! Are they really gonna leave their loyal (but tiny) audience of US fans out in the dark while they putter away over there in Russia? I mean, what the hell? So, if I don't wanna wait for it, I can get it at GoGamer, huh? Is this a fully compatible English version, patchable to the latest version? Or is it some weird and highly superior Continental Version that all you sophisticated European (and Aussie) folk have cunningly hidden from us for all this time? Dammit! I want to know what's up, and where the third game is, and I want to know NOW! - A dedicated and loving SS2 fan